The Colonization of Terenuri (IC)

[Ravian]

Rilingfall:
Rilingfall takes a step back in surprise that a bird is talking Psionics? Shapeshifter?
He then turns toward the others trying not to be overwhelmed by the fact that in less than 24 hours he had saved passengers of a sinking ship, fought giant fungi, discovered a horrible prescence in his home plane, and now helped capture a talking bird. He clears his throat before speaking.
Everyone? I don't mean to alarm anybody but I think the bird is talking.. or telepathing or something

[Meltheim]

All - [Ilifar]

As if in response to Rilingfall's revelation, the bird's voice fills your minds with the sound Caw caw, chirp chirp, meow me ... chirp chirp

Jirus turns toward the bird, tilting his head at an awkward angle as if he was listening to something intently. He then lets out a sound that Hallowhiem would recognize as the closest thing owlbears can make to a laugh. The netted bird then goes quiet, shifting its gaze to the place where Roman suddenly appears from the Feywild.

[Dimers]

Roman

"My goddess! What ... what astonishment! Intelligence, hostile ..." Roman's commentary peters out as he sees his companions looking oddly at the bright bird. "I missed something. Rilingfall, what were you saying as I stepped through?"

Once he's been updated, Roman will try his arcane best ('give it the old college try', if you will) to 'speak' at the bird mentally. He has had only limited experience with mindspeech, but does know enough to try formulating concepts instead of words, to help remove language barriers. He sends, approximately, We did not get information that you had sentience! We apologize for treating you as if you were mindless. Were the fungus people friendly to you?

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If either is necessary:
Arcana to attempt to use a mental connection with a telepathic creature: (d20+14)[33]
Diplomacy as a general guideline for politeness of speech: (d20+9)[25]

[Tegu8788]

Hallowhiem

Upon hearing a sound in his mind, he scans the forest for elves or gnomes, before realizing the mental sounds are coming from the netted avian. Even more peculiar is Jirus' reaction, laughing at this strange creature. Can it be that Jirus can understand the bird at some level we are missing? He quickly wracks his brain for any mention of psychic abilities among birds that he heard from the local hunters. He knew the bird was precious, but he had no idea why until now. He had assumed it was the natural plumage.

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A series of rolls.
Arcana on the bird (1d20+9)[28]
Diplomacy for stories hunters told him (1d20+10)[19]
History of his time on this continent (1d20+2)[17]
Nature on the bird (1d20+7)[18]

[Shular]

Throk

Throk is confused. "I'm confused. The bird chirped. Okay, it seemed to chirp inside my head, which IS really strange. But this is a strange place, and I'm sure we'll see stranger things. Wouldn't a bird that chirps in your head be worth a lot of money? I can think of a few people who'd pay good gold for something like that back home."

[Ravian]

Rilingfall:
Rilingfall turns to Throk
I believe that the chirping was a ruse created by the bird to divert our attention away from its being able to talk
Suddenly he realizes how stupid that would sound out of context.

[Shular]

Throk

Throk looks at Rilingfall with disbelief. "Why? 'Cause you heard voices in your head? Maybe you just breathed in a little too much mushroom. Haw haw!" He seems amused at his own little joke.

He calms as he thinks further about it. "Y'know, a bird that talks in your head would be worth a LOT more than a bird that chirps in your head. Maybe I'll believe you after all."

[Meltheim]

All - [Ilifar]

Despite the collective attention of the party and Roman's directed attempts at communication, the bird sits still and does not make any additional sounds that anyone can perceive. However, the bird does appear to have an intelligence about it, with the way that it looks at the different people around it and the way that its foot subtly tries to work at the knot on the net. Nonetheless, the bird does not appear to have any more interest in communicating.

From their collective observations and knowledge, the party knows that this is a highly prized bird among the Oauhmu. Moloch recalls that hunters who catch this bird are highly regarded, and that the bird is often given as a gift for significant events, such as namedays, weddings and the like. The bird is an ideal pet due to its beautiful plumage and generally docile nature.

Neither Moloch nor Hallowhiem have ever heard anything about this bird being able to communicate with people, either vocally or telepathically.

[Dimers]

Roman

The intellectual eladrin abruptly says, "I don't think it would serve us well to linger here. There could be more danger lurking, and in addition, we need to return to the colony for several reasons. I'll make some quick magical studies; in the meantime, you all might want to look for other hints of what happened and collect edibles. Oh, and the bird's bonds might need more attention."

Roman concentrates to feel for the presence of magic, then proceeds to use some very strange materials in a quick magic ritual that portrays a small piece of the landscape on a heavy sheet of paper. Finally, he collects some material from the underside of the mushroom sovereign's cap, putting it into the bag that had held the supplies the colony had provided. "That should do for me." He then re-checks the bird.

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IIRC from previous ret-conned posts, the attempt to detect magic was good and yielded no information, and the photo was decent, effectively a Perception value of 24.

[Tegu8788]

Hallowhiem

With concern for the group, and this telepathic bird, Hallowhiem mutters a quick oath, "You who attacked us unprovoked, you perversion of nature, I cast you out!" he thrusts his blade forward, summoning the magic from within himself and channelling it through this marvelous magical blade once again.

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Curse Guard
Echoing Dirge, Attack Guard (1d20+6)[10]
Attack Swarm (1d20+6)[24]
Damage (1d8+8)[12] plus (1d6)[1] for curse.

Edit: Ouch! Swarm pushed to L14.

The swarm crumbles under this assault, but in trying to target two enemies without hurting his companion any further, his primary attack fails to find its mark. Hallowhiem is beginning to get frustrated, between his failures to drive back this perversion of his god's nature, this menace in the Feywild, and his inability to recall anything useful about this exotic bird, it's all becoming a bit much. He squeezes the leather pommel of his magical weapon, wishing he could be better. His grandfather would have done better!

[Shular]

Throk

Throk watches the other man attack the dead fungus, shrugs, and says "uhh, I know I'm not exactly a people person, but shouldn't we tell the town bosses that this village was attacked by mushrooms and everyone's either dead or run away?"

[Meltheim]

All - [Ilifar]

The sky begins to darken as a few clouds roll in from the coast. The warmth of the sun has faded slightly, and the overall look of the area is getting gloomy. To those who have lived by the coast before, this type of weather change is rather typical. To those used to living inland, this rapid change might be surprising.

In any event, as the first few raindrops start to fall, the netted bird begins ruffling its feathers in frustration as it recognizes the eventuality of getting soaked.

[Dimers]

Roman

"I quite co-- er, you're right, Throk. I expect if there's anything else to be found out, it will require a trained investigator. Let's make haste back to the settlement."

As the party prepares to leave, Roman shares his lack of information from the magic scan. Seeing one more chance to discover something useful, he asks Moloch in Eladrin, "Please let your hunter's eye tell us of any sign of travelers when we leave this place." He then translates for Throk. The warrior seems confused already -- no sense exacerbating the condition with language problems.

[Ravian]

Rilingfall:
Eyeing the bird Rilingfall remains sure that it had talked, he wonders how he could coax it into repeating it
Casually he turns to Hallowheim and speaks a little louder than normal as they walk I don't see what the big deal with this bird is. I mean it's feathers look rather gaudy to me, and it certainly can't possibly do anything useful. And by the gods it's call is just obnoxious. What do you suppose this Amethyst lady wants for it anyway, a hat?
He looks to see if he has provoked a reaction from the Avian

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Not sure if this would count as a bluff check or just roleplaying, I'll roll one just in case (1d20+3)[16]

[Tegu8788]

Hallowhiem

Hallowhiem moves to the fountain, and pulling the glove of his right hand, and dips it into the water. He moves his fingers in small circles, stretching out with his senses, trying to detect if the water was a cause of the contamination, or was the effect of it. Once he finishes, he flicks the water droplets off his fingertips, and places the glove firmly back on his hand. He turns to the half-orc, and inquires "What did you see in those homes? Any sign of the inhabitants? Perhaps they escaped by boat?"

Hallow him waits for his muscled companion's response, he draws a dagger from his hip sheathe, and holding the edge of his cloak in his spare hand, he cuts away a corner section. A few stabs and slices latter, he creates a passable hood for the bird, based off of what he had seen the locals place on the heads of their hunting birds. "I'm uncertain exactly what the lady wants with this creature, I haven't personally met the Lady. Some of the natives also possess keen psychic abilities, perhaps they enjoy a pet they can talk with, so to speak. Or maybe they just enjoy the feathers, and something that can fake their language, akin to how bird back home mimic some of or songs."

He walks over to the netted bird, and gently slips the hood over the birds head. He whispers as he does this, "If you choose to continue behaving like a dumb bird, then we shall treat you as such. But decide to speak into my mind again, and I will see what I can do.

Jirus, come here boy! I need you to help carry something special." Hallowhiem takes the netted bird, and places it on Jirus' back. The owl ear had acted as a beast of burden on a few occasions, mostly helping to haul equipment for Hallowhiem to distribute. Hopefully, given the laugh Jirus had emitted earlier, he would not mind carrying this very unusual bird.

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Nature check on fountain (1d20+7)[16]
Arcana check on fountain (1d20+9)[20]

[Meltheim]

Ravian - [Ilifar]

The bird eyes Ravian and his conversation with Hallowhiem.

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The Lady? The bird communicates with such ease it is as if your own thoughts have merely taken on the affectation of a squawking pitch.

The bird's eyes then shift to Hallowhiem, tracking his movements. If possible, the eyes appear to roll a little.

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Who is this guy? "Some of the natives possess keen psychic abilities . . ." I mean seriously?

As Hallowhiem fits the bird with the hood, the bird's head whips back and forth in protest.

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Hey, General Frostspear, get this guy to chew on some of those leaves over there, please. I beg you.

Finally, as the bird is placed on Jirus' back, he calms down and sits quiet and still.

*******

Hallowhiem - [Ilifar]

The water shimmers oddly in the light, but you are not sure if it is something inherent with the water, or if it is simply the spores and scum on the surface. The scum on the surface is truly only surface deep, and fresh clean water lies just a few inches below.

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You think to yourself this water would probably be very refreshing to drink, especially after this battle with all of the Myconids. Even though I didn't do much and my pet did all the work anyway, except that guy with the glowing hair totally flung fungi around like it was going out of style. Hahah, flung fungi flung fungi fung flungi. Oh wait... yes, the water looks cool and refreshing to you, and you should probably drink it. I mean I should probably drink it. Also, my breath smells. And I should probably let that beautiful bird go. I mean, he hasn't done anything wrong. He's probably super intelligent and can mimic more than just songs and is just really embarassed that he got caught by some stupid Feyladrin. I should also give him some bread too, because he looks hungry.

[Meltheim]

All - [Road to Terenuri]

The party finishes gathering the rest of their materials, spores samples, illustrations and the like, and gets ready for the return journey. With mushrooms in hand and a bird netted, Roman seems anxious to hit the road. Every few minutes he fey steps from spot to spot, and each time he encounters the same dark, feverish nightmare of a jungle that seems ancient and predatory.

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Feel free to abstract a little and describe what you would like to do on the way back to the colony. We're in RP mode until you get back.

[Shular]

Throk

Throk shakes his head at his companions' preoccupation with the animal. "It's just a bird" he mutters to himself. As they walk back to the colony, he does his best to keep his eyes on the trees, not wanting to be ambushed by any of the verge.

[Ravian]

Rilingfall:
Eyeing the leaves that the bird mentioned, Rilingfall takes a couple samples and sees if he can identify them through his botanical studies

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Nature check: (1d20+6)[8]

Edit:
he shakes his head, then turns to Hallowheim and calls:
Hallowheim? Could you take a look at these leaves? I think they may be poisonous but I'm not sure.

[Dimers]

Roman

As the party walks back toward the settlement, Roman shares what little he learns from his several skips and opines how unlikely it is that the phenomenon would have gone unnoticed in town. In between, he chats up Moloch about local biota and asks about the lay of the land. "These bushes and scrubs are similar to what you'd find near Lake Argune back home, which is surprising because the soil is so different there ..." He talks cheerily for the most part, though he's more serious for a short time after each fey step.

Near the end of the walk, Roman holds up his left hand, looking through the magical orb into the bright sky. "This bauble seems to be giving me nearly unlimited energy," he comments. "I feel like I've hardly walked a step today."

[Tegu8788]

Hallowhiem

"Certainly, I don't mind. I'd much rather we test things without getting sick. Some of the local flora, like the fauna, have unusual properties. I do remember the hunters around the settlement mentioning them..."

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Nature (1d20+7)[10]

[Meltheim]

All - [Road to Terenuri]

Hallowhiem gathers a few of the leaves and gives them a sniff - the subtle hint of mint tickles his nose.

The motley crew of adventurers continues their journey back toward the settlement, their eyes having been opened by the unlikely attack at the . . . hands . . . of some fungi. The trip back to the settlement is relatively uneventful, though that doesn't stop a few of the party members from cautiously stepping around any menacing trees or bushes.

The bird strapped to Jirus back appears to have gone to sleep, though Rilingfall continues to think that he hears the bird talking to him. After about an hour of walking, the edges of the settlement appear up ahead. It is now early afternoon, and the party should get back into town with just enough time to clean themselves up before the feast.

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(my next RP post will be probably 12 hours from now, so if anyone wants to do anything else before getting in to town just let me know)

[Meltheim]

All - [Outside Terenuri]

Rounding the final bend, the party has managed the return trip relatively unscathed. Other than a few splashes of mud from the intermittent rainfall and a general road-weary look to them, they arrive at the pickets outside Terenuri with mushrooms and bird in tow. Just on the other side of the gates, guards have begun some sort of parade drills - no doubt meant to impress the emissaries from the Exilarchy of Amethyst when they arrive later.

"Hal!" shouts the guard from earlier, "made it back alright have ye? Anything interesting up there? Nothing but frogs and crickets to keep us company here. Anyway, I'm off now. Are you on duty tonight?"

[Tegu8788]

Hallowhiem

"That's up to Fargem, isn't it!" He returns the shout jovially. "Actually I do have some company. Ilifar has been attacked, some fungal infection, spurned by something that appears to be residing in the Feywild. I think it would be wise to have some magi, clerics, and maybe some of the Lady's people take another look at it! Also, we caught one of the birds that she likes, maybe Lord Teren can give it to her! Not that she's likely to take kindly to this one." he mutters that last part, before guiding his group through the main gates.

Turning to Roman, he asks "Any chance you've got a quick spell you can cast, make us a little more presentable? I'm sure Fargem is going to want me looking nice so I can sweettalk our new Lord for more influence, and if I can speak to him, I may be able to get you some answers about the Feywild."

[Dimers]

Roman

"Well, I've cleaned us up as best I could, Squire," Roman responds genially. "If you've a hankering for a different color to your hair or tunic, I can help out with that. And I could give you a fanfare or a hint of celestial choir when you meet Teren, if you don't think that would be over-the-top. Here, take the limning with you when you go. It should help convey the scene we found." He hands Hallowhiem the stiff parchment with the magical drawing.

[Shular]

Throk

Throk is bothered by Hallowheim's just shouting out the whole business about Ilifar to a guard. "When you learn something, tell only the boss and let him decide what to do," he thinks. It was one of the first lessons he'd learned when he joined the business.

At the comments about appearances, he looks down at himself. Some mud and blood here and there, somewhat washed away by the rain. "I've looked worse," he shrugs to himself.

[Meltheim]

All - [Terenuri]

"Well . . . uh . . . you'd better get going then. Don't let me keep you. See you tonight?" the guard shouts, giving Hallowhiem and the rest of the party a wide berth. The puzzlement on his face is obvious, and a perceptive individual would see him making a face of confusion and amusement toward one of the other guards.

As the party makes their way through the pickets and into the town proper, they see that much progress has been made in preparing for the evening's festivities. Gertie's door is wide open as patrons of all shapes and sizes, even some of the natives, or "Oauhmu" aas Moloch corrected, can be seen helping out. Some have large animals that resemble an Anduri pig (though a bit larger and with tusks) turning on spits, while others have baskets of strange fruit and vegetables.

Tents have been arranged just off of the center of town, giving a small appearance of an actual urban environment. Children play in the "streets" and adults do chores outside. Dozens of clotheslines have been strung up as those who cannot afford prestidigitation work to wash out the soot and salt from the horrific crash landing of yesterday.

In the distance, the silhouette of two large ships frame a view of the vast, open ocean. A view that would be beautiful, had it not been marred by the wrecked hull of The Mother's Star.

With the sun heading toward the horizon, and night ready to fall in a short while, the party has some time to themselves before the feast begins.

[Dimers]

Roman

Roman spends his time restlessly. After checking whether he would be needed for reporting on Ilifar's state (as expected, Fargem is far too busy with feast prep to take any action opening that can of worms), he goes to inquire after the welfare of the young halfling girl he had towed to shore during the catastrophe. In between stops in that process, he mingles, chatting up Oahmu in reconfigured Eladrin, helping with small tasks, saying hello to shipmates and sailors and learning how the town-to-be is shaping up.

The wizard seems to have no desire to go "home", a tent that holds only a few of his belongings and none of his heart. I do wish there were more to my home than a location number and tent color. I suppose that will come in time as I build a new life here, though, he muses.

[Meltheim]

Roman - [Terenuri]

While the Eladrin scholar makes his rounds, inquiring about this and that, Gertie, the innkeeper, suddenly accosts him. "You! My mushrooms? I expected you all back an hour ago! Instead I find you wandering about? I need to get started on the soup if it will be ready in time for tonight. Please tell me you were able to get some!"

She seems pleasant enough, and not truly upset, just stressed. This is her first big night and she's in charge of providing food for the entire event.

[Dimers]

Roman

"My apologies, madame innkeep. I'd assumed Hal would bring them by after reporting on the rather odd incident during the patrol. Perhaps he was delayed by delivering the, ah, diplomatic package we acquired. At any rate, the edibles are rolled up in my pack --" At Gertie's look of surprise, he explains to her, "The bag you provided was put to use in a more crucial way. I'll tell you about it some time when you're not busy, if that ever happens here ... For now, I'll bring the mushrooms right to your pot in a moment. They were plentiful, not hard to find at all." As Roman heads out to fetch the tasty fungus, he shakes his head, smiling at how ridiculous it would sound to someone who hadn't been there.